Hello from London, England as I begin a 17-day Euro-vacation.
I had hoped to leave Sunday morning out of Newark but the lone morning flight on the home team airline was overbooked so I delayed my escape until I found an open seat on a bird that left at 615 PM Sunday.
The morning departure out of New York would have better synched with my early-to-rise rhythm but it’s always been the case that US air carriers schedule most of their European service to leave the East Coast at night to arrive in Europe early the next morning so the airplane comes back in time to continue the cycle.
Other than losing half the day Monday, the later-than-hoped-for departure is no big deal given the long duration of the vacay.
The cornerstone of this big trip to Europe is a return to Toulouse but I’m gonna make a few stops before I reach that great city in the southwest of France.
I’ll do three nights in London and three nights in Krakow before the week-plus stay in Toulouse and a nightcapper in Antwerp.
I’ll be gone when the Pope comes to NYC – and I’ll have to wait to make that first visit to the newly-christened 7 line station at 11th Ave and 34th Street. I feel good that the Mets will be just fine in my absence and can hang on until I get back.
Here in London, I’m staying with my cousin Cynthia who has lived and worked here for more than 20 years.
A few travel notes:
-The six-hour flight to London was good. I sat in a window seat on the left side in the second-to-last row. We hit a couple of big potholes about one hour into the trip at 37-thousand feet. That brief bit of turbulence rocked the boat pretty good but nobody seemed to react. I watched the movie “Still Alice” on the small screen positioned on the seat back in front of me. Julianne Moore was excellent in the starring role of an accomplished Columbia U prof who suffers from early onset Alzheimer’s. The only other media consumption highlight of note as I passed time on the plane was the posthumously published one-page essay about gefilte fish by Oliver Sacks. Entitled “Filter Fish,” Sacks fondly recounts preparation of the special Sabbath snack by his mother – and later his housekeeper.
-We held on the ground in Newark for about 30 minutes and then made a half-dozen loops just before approach to Heathrow. Both tactics were designed to kill time so as not to arrive before the lifting of the London airport’s morning curfew which seems aimed to hold carriers close to their scheduled arrival time.
-The new concession infrastructure being built down the middle of concourses at Newark’s terminal C are a mixed blessing for users of that airport. Yeah, it makes for more much-needed refreshment options but it gobbles up way to much space up and down busy corridors filled with passengers and their luggage on wheels. During peak moments at Newark, the flow of people is crimped by the ill-conceived placement of new businesses and their hardware in large swaths of territory meant for movement of humans. Much more focus should be placed on upkeep of the grungy, unkempt departure lounges that look and feel like a bus station waiting area that’s been left to rot.
Gonna hit a Football League Championship match Tuesday night in Greenwich and try to cover some other neighborhoods throughout the day. More later…